Thursday, November 9, 2023

Bubble Tea

 My weakness while I've been recuperating - okay, anytime really, is bubble tea. 

It's evil stuff, but there is something comforting about it. 

Like who had the bright idea to take tea, infuse it with milk, and ice, and all sorts of other things, then add pearls, or other bits of fruit to the bottom of the cup, then give you a big thick straw to drink it down with? I mean, it's probably not good for you. I stay away from the milky ones. My go to is Oolong Tea infused with Lychee cordial, with aloe pearls. This has a lot of ice added to it. Once the tea has gone, I tend to top up the cup with cold dry ginger ale to get the last of the aloe pearls up. 

Okay, looking at the interwebs, it seems bubble tea, or boba, was invented in Taiwan in the mid-Eighties, when somebody had the forethought to put tapioca pearls in cold, milky tea. It went gangbusters from there. 

I know that bubble tea is bad for the environment. The plastic cups. The plastic lids that are soldered onto the plastic cups. The local Gong Cha, who in the past have been horrible to their staff, have just swapped out plastic straws for cardboard ones. It's good for the environment, but the paper straws get manky, really quickly. I've also noticed that the cups can be recycled. 

And I always go for the straight tea ones - none of the milky ones when seem to slosh around your stomach - not for me. The ones without milk are superlative. 

And yes, I know it's full of sugar. 

I remember getting a bubble tea for a friend's child - he was about 16 at the time. I got a World's Greatest Aunty badge for that effort. (Strangely, said child is now in his early twenties - we have a very similar sense of humour - must have rubbed off on him over the years.)

But bubble tea is good stuff. 

I've just slurped the last of the aloe pearls from the cup of ginger ale. 

It's a little luxury. 

Today's song: 

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